Crown Heights residents made one thing abundantly clear to their elected officials last night: They are not pleased with the new plan for a homeless shelter at 267 Rogers Avenue.
The residents voiced their view on the shelter at a public meeting on the issue that Community Board 9 held at P.S. 161. They also convened a panel to discuss the issue made up of Daniel Tietz from the city HUman Resources Administration, and Karen Ford and Doug Apple from Samaritan Daytop Village, who are running the shelter.
MOderating the event were CB9 Chair Musa Moore, and Crown Heights Lawmakers including City Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo, State Assemblywoman Diana Richardson and State Senator Jesse Hamilton.
The Department of Homeless Services announced their plan to open a family homeless shelter in a newly constructed apartment building on March 29. The shelter will accommodate 132 homeless families, and 20 percent of the space will be set aside for affordable housing.
From the very beginning, it was clear that the people and representatives of Crown Heights were not going to be pulling any punches. Richardson delivered an impassioned speech detailing why the plan, in her view, amounted to little more than a slap in the face.
“We are losing our homes!” Richardson declared. “The price of housing has gone up so much, I believe Mayor De Blasio when he tells me he has a homeless crisis, and I believe him that he has to open up ninety new shelters!…Brooklyn evictions are up, and when you look at this community on the map, you will see that our community is being evicted at an expeditious rate!”
Richardson went on to elaborate that the new shelter would do nothing to address the root of the problem; namely, that Crown Heights is starved for low-income housing, due to mounting gentrification. Her speech was met with raucous applause, along with shouts of, “Kill the deal!”
During the Q&A, the people of Crown Heights used their brief time on the mic to deliver scathing critiques of the project, some of which suggested that the decision to target Crown Heights had racist, classist undertones.
“This development was already planned in 2013,” said local activist Alicia Boyd. “Because black communities are expendable, okay? Every part of this community is under attack.”
Fior Ortiz-Joyner from the rom the Rebirth of Bergen Street Block Association concurred, claiming that Crown Heights already has over 1,700 units worth of homeless housing, compared to Park Slope’s 331.
“Most of the homeless shelters are going up in predominantly black neighborhoods, so they have to bear the burden,” Ortiz-Joyner said. “People in the neighborhood thought [the new building] would be for affordable housing, which this neighborhood needs. Crown Heights is already inundated with homeless housing.”
In the face of these critiques, Tietz, Apple and Ford stood firm, insisting that they have the best interests of the community at heart and that permanent housing for the community is, in fact, their end goal.
“At Samaritan Village, we offer a comprehensive social service program,” said Ford. “From the time the individual family enters one of our facilities, we begin processing, planning for them for permanency…we do want our families and individuals to find permanent housing.”
Their answers, however, failed to placate any of the attendees, who continued to assert their intention to fight the plan every step of the way.
